a) The 2024 Subway Series
b) Bragging rights to NYC
c) The chance to snicker at Sevy, Bader, Quintana, Ottavino, Torrens and all the other ex-Yankees, who will be beckoning Juan Soto to join them next winter.
d) Again
e) All of the above.
Of course, the true answer is f): Their minds, their souls, their purpose in life and their hopes for the next few years.
I've long argued that the Yankees mirror the American condition: Awful during the 1960s (Vietnam and Watergate), the 1980s (banking crisis, Iraq war) and now (whatever this is.) If they continue to suck, democracy is at stake. So, nothing to worry about, eh?
Other takeaways from last night:
1. If the Death Barge wins tonight, it will be .500 since the break. If the Yanks can play .500 ball the rest of the way, they will finish with 85 wins, three more than last season. This might nudge them into the expanded postseason, as one of the participation trophy wild card slots.
Livin' the dream, am I right?
2. Suzyn Waldman has become the Despairing and Distressful Voice of Doom. It doesn't matter who is sharing the booth. Suzyn is fed up. Last night, she started bemoaning the lack of batter discipline, and then abruptly stopped herself, muttering that whatever she says doesn't matter. Honestly, it was a golden moment, an existential self-awareness akin to the final scene in The Truman Show. Her bitter lamentation, "Oh boy," is the Wilhelm Scream of sports broadcasting.
3. Repeating the essence of yesterday's post, what metric in God's Creation justifies batting Juan Soto and Aaron Judge batting second and third? Why keep pretending this is a batting order? The Yankees have a two-man offense, nothing more, so get them to the plate as often as possible.
Last night, Jah Jones batted leadoff. Jah Jones. Why? Jones is a bench piece, a banjo hitter in a lineup of harps. He has no power. (One HR). He has a lousy on base percentage. (.301). He doesn't run. (One SB.) He should bat ninth. Instead, he hit leadoff. Why?
He was simply there to satisfy the adage that you always need a pesky guy to hit before the big guns. In the ninth, Trent Grisham - hitting .187 - pinch-hit for Jones. He made an out. It could have been Soto leading off that inning. Who knows if it could have turned out differently? Why keep pretending this is a batting order?
4. The current Yankee infield may be the worst of this millennium. DJ LeMahieu can't hit and last night botched a bouncer. Gleyber Torres is simply not all there. First base is an ongoing audition. And Anthony Volpe still hasn't recovered from co-booting the worst loss of the year. Seriously: Has there been a worse Yankee infield in the last 24 years?
I'm looking at the 2013 Yankees, who missed the playoffs. Lyle Overbay, Robby Cano, Eduardo Nunez and Jason Nix. A truly rotten infield, and this was back when Robbie was still learning how to jog. Still, they had Cano (who hit .314 with 27 HRs.) It's a tough call.
5. The Atlantic just proposed a set of trades that would land the Yankees a 3B, a starting pitcher and a bullpen lug nut. It would also decimate the farm system. (Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr., Will Warren, Oswald Peraza, et al.)
Will next week's trade deadline neuter us for the next five years? Are we going to destroy the future so Brian Cashman can save face, maybe win a wild card slot?
6. The Yankees should soon have back both Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Dominguez. Stanton, any day now (Though I ask : If a guy can't run, how much can he help?) The Martian could start a minor league rehab next week. (It's worth wondering: Could the Yankees bring him up too soon and mess up his head?) The arrival of Dominguez could effectively end the Alex Verdugo experiment. (Doogie went 1-2 yesterday with a walk; dare we be hopeful? His last big chance could come this weekend against Boston.) I guess what I'm saying here is that we need these guys back, but there is no easy path, no simple solution to the problems of this team.
7. Gerrit Cole tonight. Wow. It sure didn't take long for every one of Cole's starts to be critical, to come after a tough loss - and to be far more stressful than you'd want for a guy returning from an arm injury. It didn't take long for the rotation to become Cole and four dice rolls.
8. The Mets last night unveiled to the world a perfect strategy: Walk Judge and take your chances with the Munchkins. I've got a funny feeling that we're going to see it again.
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33 comments:
They’re 60-43 after last night, doesn’t that leave them 59 games? If they went .500 they’ll be at 89-90 wins. Depending on what the orioles do that might actually win the division
Jaraxle - that calculus shows just how shallow baseball has become. You can be a dogfood team and still win the division.
One of baseballs great strengths and joys - the long season - has become more and more meaningless. It's just about TV now.
Thaaaaaat's entertainment, folks....
@13bit I have no love for what the game has become, I miss when batting avg was a thing and Tony Gwynn was the kind of player you’d want, but there’s always been a division or two that have been won by mediocre teams, the problem is that’s most of the divisions now. Could look at it another way, if the Yankees go 35-24, easily possible if even one or two guys start hitting, that’s a 95 win team. That’s good in any era.
Yeah, sure, we've sucked for over a month now. But what has Baltimore done? Huh? Huh? Huh?
Riiiigghhhttt. They haven't done shit. 3-7 last ten games, but that's being kind by not going back further. Guess what? They've sucked for a month now.
So we are not alone. Even the mighty Guardians are 3-7 in their last ten. The Dodgers haven't exactly played up to their potential, or the hype, either.
Remember last year? Being a great team, or even a really good team, and racking up wins during the season means squat. 40% of MLB teams will make the playoffs. The hottest two will meet in the World Series. Not the best two. The hottest two.
We can suffer four or five, maybe even six weeks of mediocrity. Hell, maybe seven. If we're in striking distance, and somehow this team wakes up like it did in April and May, we barrel to the Series.
It's not a crapshoot, as said by our idiot GM. But it's really damn close to one.
“Why do the Yankees make Grandpa sad, mommy?”
“I suppose it’s because they’re aren’t playing well, Honey”
“Is that why he stands in front of the tv and yells, THIS ISN’T BASEBALL ITS ASSSSSSSSSSSSSBALL! ?”
“Yes, Dear”
“And why he changes the first names of all the players to FUCK! ?
“Yes, Baby but you shouldn’t say that word because it’s rude and naughty, OK?”
“OK, Mom! I like saying Gleyber and DJ and Aaron better anyway.”
“So do I, Honey. So do I”
The Martian, The Stanton...Cash will make the biggest and best deadline acquisitions.
The lineup tendered last night was a farce. Why are Jones and Davis even on the team. $300M for this? Where is the accountability. Yeah, we’ll win 85 games (my prediction), so what? We’re all chumps for supporting this team.
Chump is a great word, not used nearly enough by the general public.
Like a dog resembles it's owner, The Yankees resemble their GM. A bunch of losers. Last night's lineup was an embarrassment. This is not the first time that the team trotted out an inadequate lineup. JD Davis was cut by the Mets and The A's. That is like a man being dumped by Ruth Buzzi. If people on this site, do not know whom she is, Google her.
I’m just going to wait till 2037, when Ca$hman signs a 36yr old Paul
Skenes to a 10yr/ 1 trillion dollar contract
edb, I laughed out loud at the Ruth Buzzi quip
.240 batting avg watch…last night 8 of 12 yankees that batted were below the Rondell White line (a lifetime .240 hitter for us)
All too true, guys—all of it!
I've said before that this year had 1973 written all over it...except that there are no 1973 Athletics, Orioles, or Red Sox in the AL this season.
I wonder if it's going to prove to be more like 2022, when the Yanks broke out of the gate at 56-20, went 17-28 over the next month-and-a-half, then righted themselves enough to finish 26-15.
IF The Martian, Hobbles, and a couple others are able to come back and turn it around, maybe so. But that will not be a team equipped to go anywhere in the playoffs—as we all knew in 2022.
And the 2024 version seems even thinner and more bereft than that team two years ago.
I wonder what White Sox players we’ll welcome by next week? Maybe an A’s player or two also?
Don't know if it's been mentioned here but Jomboy posted something on X last night about how maybe batting Jai Johanny Jones leadoff and Ann B. Davis cleanup is some passive aggressive stick being shoved up Cashman's ass by Boone, sort of a, "These are the guys you gave me" thing. Based on something Torre did back in the olden times.
Linky dinky doo in case anyone's interested:
https://x.com/Jomboy_/status/1815834322680819712
We have injuries to thank for Baltimore's "malaise". They took some significant hits to their pitching staff, and it caught up to them. The Yankees aren't the only injured team, all the Yankees that have gone on the DL who we say "ahh, they suck anyway" are still better than their replacements. But man, what a year for the "farm" to get the blight. Happy days...
The Athletic reporting Yanks open to trading Nestor for an outfielder.
Cashman, that strange little man, somehow thinks he's showing courage and strength by trading a capable lefty starter for an undoubtedly marginal outfielder. Again.
Or, a troll on the fantasy. Cashman is s such a fucking weirdo.
"fan base" not "fantasy" excuse me. Though "fantasy" does kinda work.
3 games back in The All Important Loss Column ®™.
Fuck all those Fuckers.
I'm sure Ruth Buzzi was a very nice person. Arte Johnson would no doubt agree.
These Yankees will not play .500 ball. They will not.
Keefe wrote on 7/22: "10. The Yankees are 11-21 since June 13. Their lead on a postseason spot is down to three games in the loss column. On June 14, that number was 13 games in the loss column."
These Yankees have the worst record in MLB since mid-June.
Fuck CashBrain.
From Keefe:
“Judge is a .216/.322/.431 in late-and-close situations this season (plate appearances in the seventh inning or later with the Yankees tied, ahead by one or with the tying run at least on deck). He’s a .325/.447/.662 hitter when the Yankees lead by more than four runs.”
That triple slash is like pinch hitting Oswald Peraza or Enrique Wilson (utility infielder 2001-2004) for Judge.
We have all experienced Yankee greatness. It's like porn - you know it when you see it. And we all know that the current team is a sad parody of Yankee greatness.
I'll keep waiting for the gods to wake up and bless us again.
Any truth to the rumor that Nancy Newman will bat leadoff tonight?
Duque, #3 " what metric in God's Creation justifies batting Juan Soto and Aaron Judge batting second and third?"
By having two guys in front of Judge, that increases the probability that he comes up to bat with at least one guy on base in the 1st inning. It might also increase the probability of Judge coming up with men on base in later innings as well, although this is debatable and will depend on the way things shake out.
Last night, the Yankees got what they wanted: the top of the order in the 9th. Last Chance Saloon.
As is usual, facing a hard thrower with electric stuff and a nasty breaking ball, it didn't work out. They got exactly what they wanted: Judge with a man on base with a chance to win. The probability of a home run there is probably 1 in a 1,000. So no surprise that he didn't hit onw out.
Judge might have been a bit too passive in that at-bat. The first pitch he saw was hittable, but he let it go by, perhaps surprised that they challenged him. The last pitch was a fastball on the inside corner, when Judge, like all good hitters with two strikes, was protecting the outside corner. He got surprised again, and that was that.
I don't know what would be better about Soto leading off and Judge hitting #2. Soto has an on base % of about .430. So in the 1st inning, there would be a 43% chance he's on base for Judge. Conversely, there is a 57% chance that nobody is on base for Judge.
With anybody who has a pulse leading off, and Soto batting #2, Judge batting #3, let's assume the leadoff man has a .270 on base % and Soto has .430 on base %. Then there is a 58% probability of at least one man on base for Judge. You increased your chances from 43% to 58%. (This is assuming no home runs or double play ball, just to make the math more simple. But the basic idea is true, that you're significantly increasing the chances of Judge hitting with somebody on base.)
The problem with the Yankee lineup yesterday was not Soto #2 and Judge #3. It was nobody suitable hitting cleanup. J.D. Davis, what the hell qualifies him as a cleanup hitter? Might as well bring Spencer Jones and hit him cleanup. Might as well hit Austin Wells cleanup every game. Won't be any worse than J.D. Davis or Verdugo or Torres. Might even be a whole lot better.
Whether Soto leads off and Judge hits #2 or whether Soto is #2 and Judge #3, unless these guys hit home runs, somebody is going to have to drive them in. And most of the lineup is not hitting, unlike earlier in the year, so you've got a major malfunction.
Moving a guy up one slot in the lineup doesn't mean he gets a whole lot more at-bats. There are 9 guys in the lineup. Simple probability says there is a 1 in 9 chance that a guy gets one more at-bat because he was moved up one slot. 162 games divided by 9 = 18. Maybe 18 additional last chance at bats. Maybe more, because of the fact that, by virtue of the best hitters hitting up top, that they increase the chances of the lineup turning over and everyone getting more at-bats. But it actually doesn't make a huge difference.
I think that last year, I found Judge got maybe 15 more at bats in non-blowout games by hitting #2 instead of #3. Did those 15 extra at-bats make any difference? Nope. Nothing significant happened in any of those 15 at bats. Opposing pitchers mostly pitched around him or gave the intentional walk. Sometimes he struck out against hard throwers with electric stuff.
Anyways, I saw a stat on the tube yesterday that the Yankees have the best offense in baseball. They're scoring 4.98 runs a game. Best in baseball.
I don't know how that's possible or if I mis-saw the stat, but that was I remember.
The total number of runs they score is not the problem. Moving your best hitters up to hit leadoff and #2 might actually increase the run totals for the year. But keep in mind that we're not trying to set run total records. We are trying to win one goddamned game, multiplied by 162 times. Which is not at all the same thing.
The Met broadcast team always makes great points. They mentioned that DJ Lemahieu was playing a very deep 3B. This has been going on now for years with the Yankee infield. Must've had feedback from the stat nerds that playing back is better for the infield. What I see is that this makes it almost impossible for the third baseman to throw out anyone on a dribbler. It also makes it much more difficult to throw out a runner on a routine backhand play at third. He has to fire a bullet to first because he's so deep that it's a much longer throw.
They've turned "the hot corner" into "the long corner". And I don't think it's been for the better. If I played 3B, I'd prefer to rely on reflexes to make plays on hot shots and take away the dribbler hits by playing in. Sort of like charging the net in tennis. I prefer the aggressive approach, not the conservative one.
And why the hell is DJ LeMahieu playing 3B? Cabrera is far and away the better fielding 3B.
So Severino can now amend his comment to say:
THE YANKEES HAVE TWO GUYS THAT CAN HIT AND ONE THAT CAN PITCH.
And The Intern let Sevy and Montgomery get away. Think we'd have some better frontline pitching if someone who didn't have his head up his ass was running the show?
That would make 2 hitters and 3 pitchers. That would get a division crown and maybe more.
Game thread is up.
@ DickAllen, Apparently, the intern who runs the show here had some bad blood with Montgomery. He couldn't wait to get rid of him. And he decided to keep the vaunted pitching coach instead of Sevvy. It was obvious that the coaching here wasn't able to get Sevvy back on track. So the simplest solution would be to clean up the coaching, try someone better, or even bring in a personal coach, right? Nah, the intern just throws away underperformers, coaches have lifetime jobs here.
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